Beautiful Valentine
by Christine Leigh
Summary: Set during season nine Mulder and Scully manage to meet for Valentine's Day.


TITLE: Beautiful Valentine  
AUTHOR: Christine Leigh  
RATING: PG  
CATEGORY: MSR  
SPOILERS: None.

SUMMARY: Set during season nine - Mulder and Scully manage to meet for Valentine's Day. This would never have happened. A total flight of fancy.

DISCLAIMER: All characters are the products of Chris Carter. They also belong to Ten-Thirteen Productions and the Fox Network. No copyright infringement intended.

ARCHIVING: If you would like to archive anywhere, I'd appreciate a quick note first.

Beautiful Valentine  
by Christine Leigh

Somewhere

February 14, 2002

He was even more beautiful in repose. She touched her forefinger to his cheek and held it there for a moment hoping it wouldn't disturb his sleep. Mulder lay on his back with his face turned toward her and if she never saw anything else in this life again besides his face so close to hers as they lay in bed together, she would have known beauty at its purest. Her body needed rest, but her mind and heart wouldn't allow it. As long as they were together, her eyes would remain open.

They hadn't said anything upon meeting, but had fallen into bed without a backward glance. It had been too damn long, and not knowing how long it would be until the next time had brought them to a tacit prioritization of their moments together. Life was too cruel and too wonderful. Her body had been graced with the pleasure that only this man could provide, and she'd been greedy. It was no wonder that he was now sleeping so soundly. She couldn't take her eyes off him.

She regretted that William could not be here, but she'd had to make the choice to either come alone, or not at all. Of course, it hadn't really been a choice, but she so wanted Mulder to see his beautiful baby boy, who was growing so much bigger by the day. She'd had to put these thoughts out of her mind, though, for now.

She turned away from him, suddenly remembering something. She'd had the presence of mind to bring along a photograph of herself and William that had been taken two weeks ago, but had almost forgotten about it in the throes of their reunion. She located Mulder's jeans in the pile of clothing on the floor and slipped the picture into the pocket. It was a good picture, marred only by the person who was missing from it. Then she got back in bed, just in time to see him stir. His arm found its way around her waist.

"Hi." If she could have felt his voice, it would be the texture of chocolate velvet. And he looked so good. So amazingly good. How was she going to leave?

"Hi."

"Scully, you wore me out. That was incredible."

"Too much?"

"Never. Ever. I'm just out of practice." He kissed her on the cheek. "What time is it?"

"Almost four. Is that good or bad?" She saw the look on his face and knew the answer.

"I think your ride is due in half an hour."

"Oh." She wasn't going to cry. She absolutely was not going to do that.

"I'm sorry, Scully."

"There's nothing to be sorry about Mulder. This afternoon was something I didn't expect, and it will make the days to come more difficult than they would be if we hadn't been together today, but it was worth it. It was so worth it."

"Scully, do you know how much I hate being apart from you and William? I hate every second that I know the two of you are living a life without me."

No crying. None. After a couple of seconds she took a deep breath.

"Mulder, you may not be there, but we're not living without you." She blushed.

"What is it, Scully?"

"Mulder, I talk to him about you. Mostly at night before I put him down. It's become a ritual. Sometimes I recount a story from a case, but most of the time I just tell him about his father who loves him and misses him, and who will come home as soon as possible."

Mulder kissed her again, this time on the lips. "Scully," he was whispering, "I think your ride will understand if you're a few minutes late."

"You think so?" She could barely get the words out.

"Yeah."

"Mulder, I do love you so. I hope you know that."

"It's what keeps me going, Scully. Happy Valentine's Day."

He'd known how hard this was going to be for both of them, but he'd underestimated. He felt very old and very young at the same time. He tightened his embrace around her. It felt so good to have her head nestled, once again, beneath his chin. He kissed her hair, and noticed another blush on her cheek.

"Now, what is it?"

"Us. Valentine's Day. The whole idea of us celebrating Valentine's Day."

"Extreme possibilities, Scully."

"Oh, that's right. I'd almost forgotten." She managed a small smile.

"It's more than right. It's us."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Don't you forget it."

"Parting reminder time, Mulder?"

"Oh, yeah."

- end -


End file.
